


equilibrium

by justjoy



Series: a symphony in noise: dcmk trope fills [7]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Drabble Collection, F/M, Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-06
Updated: 2017-06-18
Packaged: 2018-12-26 03:02:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12049929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justjoy/pseuds/justjoy
Summary: A magician and a scientist walk into a bar. This is probably not a good idea.(Or: various excursions in thepast time 'versebut who's counting, really.)





	1. your kitchen rules

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [past time](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10403550) by [justjoy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/justjoy/pseuds/justjoy). 



> crossposts from tumblr for archiving purposes, don't mind me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (crossposted from [tumblr](http://presumenothing.tumblr.com/post/159267415435/), come say hi!)

 

Shiho muffles a curse when three dozen Kid plushies fall out of the utensils cupboard, tumbling to the floor in an avalanche of felt capes and plastic monocles.

Her unfortunate (on her part) roommate chooses this moment to stumble into the small kitchen of the apartment they share, yawning widely as he mumbles something that’s presumably supposed to be a greeting in her direction.

“Good morning to you too, Kuroba-kun,” she answers anyway, her tone acerbic. “I don’t suppose you  _can_  read?”

Kuroba blinks blearily at her over the mug he’s managed to procure and fill with coffee – he isn’t as big a fan of the stuff as Kudo (or, Shiho has to admit, occasionally herself as well), but he has an 8am class today and they’ve long since agreed on a limit to how much chocolate he can have within a 24-hour period.

(The definition of what constitutes a day is unsurprisingly contentious when it comes to someone with Kuroba’s lifestyle, so Shiho had elected to pre-empt the inevitable argument on technicalities when drafting ground rules at the start of the semester.

At any rate, the magician definitely isn’t a morning person, unless one includes the hours of midnight to 3am. It’s an entertaining sight, frankly speaking.)

“I’ve been known to do so, I think,” he replies slowly, almost half a minute later. “But not if you ask Hakuba. Why?”

Shiho turns back to her own coffee, stirring cream in before taking a sip. “And what does the sign on the kitchen door say?”

Kuroba squints at the door. It’s completely for show, since both his eyesight and memory are as good as her own. “No pranks in the kitchen.”

“Really.” Her eyebrow twitches as she gestures at the pile of soft toys now littering the floor – she’s tempted to toss the whole lot at him, because breakfast is  _sacred_ , damn it. But it’s early enough that Kuroba’s reflexes might not have kicked in yet, and dealing with spilled coffee ranks somewhere near the last thing she wants to do right now. “Do you happen to see any question marks after that instruction?”

Kuroba gives a considering hum as he wanders over to the fridge for an onigiri. “Isn’t the question mark sort of… I dunno, implied? I always assume it is with this sort of thing, that’s worked out fine so far.”

…maybe she  _should_  throw just one of the plushies at him anyway, and make him clean the mess up afterwards.

Not for the first time, Shiho seriously wonders if she should’ve accepted the offer to move in with Kudo and the rest, even though the science faculty is across campus from their apartment near the law school. That’d probably have entailed corralling case files and discussions of murder instead of glitter bombs and doves – and she wouldn’t rule out the possibility of actual corpses, not with Hattori around – but she’s at least 80% certain the detectives would keep it out of the kitchen if she asked them to.

 

 


	2. celestial beings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “This is illegal, isn’t it.”
> 
> “Well, _technically –_ "
> 
> (for [prompt #10](http://presumenothing.tumblr.com/post/159703672675/30-fluff-tropes-dcmk-fills), Kaito & Shiho: stargazing.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (crossposted from [tumblr](http://presumenothing.tumblr.com/post/159612775320), come say hi!)

“This is illegal, isn’t it.”

“Well,  _technically_ , the university’s observatory is always open to all members of the physics society.”

“I highly doubt they meant for that allowance to apply after hours, Kuroba-kun.”

“Perhaps, but ‘illegal’ is still putting it a bit strongly. I didn’t know you were such a stickler for rules, Miyano.” Kuroba turns away briefly to fish something out of his pocket. “Look, I even have a key!”

“From when you pilfered the original and made a duplicate, I assume.” Shiho crosses her arms as he unlocks the door and pushes it open. “What are we doing here?”

He gives her a half-amused, half-irritated look, crossing the room towards the far corner with obvious familiarity. “I told you already, didn’t I?”

“Forgive me if I’m inclined to doubt a sudden invitation to, quote, ’go see some stars tonight’, end quote,” Shiho replies, still skeptical, though she does follow him into the small observatory. It’s little more than a large container set on top of the physics building, with a fairly standard 20-inch telescope in the middle of the room – most of the school’s astronomical research is conducted offsite at the Nagano observatory, as far as she knows.

Not that she’s been to either place prior to tonight, of course. Astrophysics has never been a particular interest of hers.

It’s trivial, though, to figure out that the console Kuroba has just switched on is the telescope’s controls. “Jeez, Miyano, not  _everything’s_  gotta have an ulterior motive to it.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” she mutters, walking over to the telescope instead. She doesn’t bother looking through the eyepiece yet, but even in the dim red light of the LED strips illuminating the area she can see data cables running from the telescope’s mount to the computer that Kuroba’s now tapping away at.

“Seeing is disbelieving, as they say,” he quips back at her, before straightening. “Oh, and you might want to step back.”

Shiho moves away automatically, and a second later the telescope begins to pivot with a whirring, ponderous movement, reorienting itself to its new position. “Some warning might’ve been nice,” she says a little testily.

Kuroba shrugs as he comes to stand beside her. “I  _did_  tell you to move, didn’t I?”

Shiho pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs. “Correction: early warning at least half a minute in advance.”

“Right, okay,” he says agreeably, as the telescope stops rotating and falls silent. “I’ll keep that in mind for next time.”

“You’d best not plan on making a habit of dragging me out here past midnight, Kuroba-kun.” She steps forward, hesitating for a moment before leaning down slightly to look through the eyepiece. “What am I supposed to be seeing?”

“Ho-oh,” he answers, deadpan.

Shiho glares at him over her shoulder. “If you brought me all the way here just to make some Pokémon joke, Kuroba…”

Kuroba snickers, holding his hands up. “No joke, I swear, that’s what the constellation is really called! Some guy named it the Phoenix back way back when and it got translated from there, I don’t make the rules.”

She directs another dubious look at him for good measure before turning back to the telescope.

Even with the added magnification, the supposed constellation is still a haphazard collection of seven stars – it resembles a poorly drawn skeletal formula of some organic molecule more than anything. Cyclobutanecarboxylic acid, perhaps.

Shiho gives up with a shake of her head. The human tendency to attach subjective sentiment to physical phenomena is something she’s never understood, even now.

She moves away, allowing Kuroba his turn at the telescope. “I didn’t know stargazing was a hobby of yours, Kuroba-kun.”

Kuroba shrugs again, and doesn’t turn away from the eyepiece as he speaks. “It’s… reassuring, I guess, to know that there are bigger things than us out there, that’ll keep going no matter what.”

Shiho contemplates this for a moment.

Then she says, “Most the stars we see in the night sky are far enough away that we wouldn’t know if they went out until several centuries later, at least. Even the Sun’s light is more than eight minutes old.”

“Ugh. You and that meitantei are the same, it’s no fun at all.” Kuroba finally looks up with a faint grimace. “Did you know, he once gave me a lecture on the diffusion and reflection of light while I was escaping from a heist?”

Shiho raises an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t be surprised. But comparing me to Kudo-kun doesn’t change the facts.”

“It ought to,” Kuroba says with a huff, before striding back towards the computer. “Come on, what else d’you want to see? I can show you the moon, I hear she’s looking good tonight.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~disclaimer i know nothing about the operation of a telescope~~
> 
> the [Kiso Observatory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiso_Observatory) is located at Mt. Ontake in Nagano and maintained by the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Tokyo aka Todai, though the observatory here is completely made up based on what we have at my school
> 
> _Kaito is referring to the conversation he has with Conan after the Blue Wonder aka mid-air walk heist, re: the sky and sea both being blue, yada yada_
> 
> also: [phoenix constellation](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Constellation_Phoenix.jpg), [cyclobutanecarboxylic acid](http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/content/dam/sigma-aldrich/structure5/174/mfcd00001323.eps/_jcr_content/renditions/mfcd00001323-medium.png) – aka I see no difference here and spend far too much time researching drabbles


	3. plausible deniability

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (crossposted from [tumblr](http://presumenothing.tumblr.com/post/161966297245), come say hi!)

_secure message history with: roommate from hell_

Kuroba-kun.

> oh no proper punctuation  
> what did i do this time

Did you steal that ¥11m diamond?

> ?? which one  
> i mean like  
> theres lots of expensive diamonds out there   
> depends on the cut colour quality etc etc but  
> anything around 5 carats would easily cost that much

Fair point. Allow me to rephrase.   
Did you have anything to do with the sudden and mysterious disappearance of this particular diamond?  _http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/..._

> oh, that  
> why do you ask

Yes, that. Indeed. Very astute of you.  
And I’m just ascertaining if there’s anything I’m supposed to be denying. Such as the fact that my bike was very distinctly not where I remember parking it yesterday.

> the defendant pleads not guilty, your honour  
> also you DID say i could borrow your bike while mine’s being repaired so  
> anyway  
> apparently there was a fake kid notice issued??  
> also r00d i dont need you to be my alibi

Of course. You couldn’t afford me, anyway.

> not all of us eat fusae brand for breakfast, miyano

I also accept Burberry, if that helps.

> ha ha ha.  
> see i can use punctuation too!  
> oh no here comes hakuba ugh ttyl

Not if you forget the milk, you won’t.

> hello 110 yes i’d like to report an attempted murder

“Attempted”? Please.  
Also, no need for the police, Hakuba-kun is literally right there.

> omg pls no id rather die

 

 


End file.
